1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved touch panel input device attached to injection molding machines.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an operation for injection molding resin, temperature conditions such as heating barrel temperature and mold temperature, pressure conditions such as injection pressure and screw back pressure, time conditions such as injection time and dwell time, and speed conditions such as injection speed and screw rotation speed are decisive factors for the quality of molded articles. Such conditions are collectively called xe2x80x9cmolding conditions.xe2x80x9d The molding conditions should be inputted in advance in a molding condition setting unit attached to an injection molding machine. An invention directed to such a molding condition setting unit is known from, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. HEI-1-21779 entitled xe2x80x9cMolding Condition Setting Unit.xe2x80x9d
The known molding condition setting unit includes a molding condition setting panel which is provided with a numeric keypad as well as various kinds of keys. The numeric keypad is used to key in set values comprising numeric values of the molding conditions. The numeric keypad, however, can cause such problem as the numeric value xe2x80x9c10.5xe2x80x9d being wrongly inputted as xe2x80x9c105xe2x80x9d with an inadvertent omission of the decimal xe2x80x9c.xe2x80x9d The numeric keypad is a convenience on the one hand; however, it is likely to cause input error on the other hand. The numeric keypad occupies relatively large space on the molding condition setting panel. This may prevent making the molding condition setting panel compact when necessary.
In recent years, a display style has prevailed where the numeric keypad is laid over another screen on a display. In this style, part of the screen behind the relatively large numeric keypad cannot be seen. Therefore, it is necessary to move the numeric keypad to another place on the display, resulting in troublesome display manipulation. This may lengthen the operation time to set molding conditions, leading to the deterioration of productivity.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an input device substituting for a numeric keypad, for use in molding condition setting units.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an input device for an injection molding machine, having a touch panel display screen, which input device comprises a set value display including a plurality of set value windows for displaying set values of molding conditions, and an input element including a scale for inputting the set values of the molding conditions, the input element being arranged to emerge with a touch of one of the set value windows, wherein touching the scale can change a numeric value displayed in the set value window.
Touching the set value window to be changed makes the scale emerge on the display screen. Touching the scale can change the numeric value in the set value window. The scale can be a sufficiently narrow band, which can be displayed on a position not to be an obstacle to the set value windows. In addition, while the conventional numeric keypad requires as many keystrokes as the number of digits of the numeric value, the scale allows the input of the numeric value with a single touch.
The input element has an up key and a down key on opposite sides of the scale, wherein pushing the up key or down key can further increase or decrease the numeric value changed by touching the scale. It is preferred to attach to the scale the up and down keys for adjusting numeric values. Inputting an approximate numeric value by touching the scale and then adjusting the numeric value with the up/down keys can shorten the total time of inputting operation of the numeric value.